Caterpillar Dock Wall Repair
Dock Wall Repairs Carefully Handled in a High Traffic Area
Yoe was tasked with removing and reinstalling a deteriorating and stressed interior dock wall at the Caterpillar warehouse and distribution facility in York, PA.
Challenge
Yoe was presented with a wall that was cracked and falling over, with only 6 inches of the wall visible under backfilled dirt that was pushing on it and causing it to break. Not only was the visibility and accessibility to the wall a challenge due to the dirt, but the wall was also located at the loading docks, a high-traffic area with nearly nonstop tractor-trailer movement throughout the day, making access a hurdle from multiple perspectives. Under these conditions, to safely excavate the wall from the dirt, remove the old concrete and then rebuild the wall in the same place required extreme caution and detailed planning.
Services & Solutions
To help alleviate some of the challenges presented by traffic from the trucks loading and unloading, the Yoe team was able to dedicate one of the nearby bays exclusively to the wall replacement project. While this helped to secure the area for excavation, demolition and concrete repairs, the team also had to maintain constant communication with the incoming and outgoing traffic to ensure everyone on-site remained safe when moving about the docks. The communication also enabled the project to go on without disrupting the client’s normal business operations.
Yoe’s in-house concrete and excavation capabilities ensured a seamless project from start to finish. The team began by freeing the wall from the surrounding dirt and preparing the area for the removal and replacement of the concrete structure. Broken areas were removed and once the site was prepared, the Yoe team used the existing foundation to rebuild the wall. They accomplished this by drilling into the foundation, adding epoxy to it and installing new rebar, and then adding a form to repour the concrete for a completed wall.
Results
Creative problem solving, transparent communication, and careful up-front planning, including mapping out each step of the process ensured the team was able to tackle the job on the client’s deadline and within budget.